Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 12th June 2008
Google chief points to the future of property search
In a recent interview with German newspaper
Faz.net, Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicted that revenues from their mobile advertising business will overtake their PC/web business in a few years. To put some numbers on this, it means at least $8 billion* of Adwords revenue will switch from PC to mobile. For this to happen, it requires a huge shift in human behaviour on a global scale. Is this possible and what are the implications for overseas property professionals?
This time it’s personal
Keys, wallet, phone? Have you got everything? The mobile phone has become an essential part of human existence. We take it everywhere, even on holiday. It’s personal, and it will eventually deliver more personal and relevant results than searching the internet from your PC. One day, you’ll be able to say “property for sale” and the phone will know where you are (GPS) and deliver relevant search results displayed on a map with you at the centre. Consumers will start spending less time on PCs and more on their mobile devices. It’s a question of when, not if.
Mobile internet goes mass-market in Europe
The new iPhone with GPS
goes on sale across Europe on 11th July and many network operators are choosing to offer the phone for no upfront cost. O2 in the UK is offering users
free handsets, 500 minutes and unlimited texts for £36 a month, for example. It’s just the beginning – Nokia and Motorola are working furiously on new models and Google is trying to become the Windows operating system for mobile phones with its open-source Android project. 11th July 2008 marks the beginning of mass market mobile internet in Europe.
The real estate agent website of the future
The video below is a demonstration of how your mobile website might look in the future. Properties are ordered by distance from the browsers location (not always relevant for overseas property, but this functionality could be turned off) and users can enlarge photos, watch videos and make a telephone call with one click.
HomeFindr native iPhone app demo from
Damon Allison on
Vimeo
http://codemorphic.com/Interactive outdoor marketing
A few of the more innovative real estate companies are already using technology that allows passers-by to text them to receive property details. It’s more applicable to resale and domestic purchase but it’s sure to work for properties in holiday home locations that get good footfall and in popular airports. Holidaymakers could request and then receive a text with property offers from
Darragh MacAnthony on their way through Malaga airport. It’s a frightening prospect!
The decline of search engine optimisation
If Google is as dominant on mobile as it is on the PC, then search engine optimisation will become less relevant. Google’s own local products will take traffic and buyers away from the search results. It already has an extensive database of properties (
Google Base) and real estate agents (
Google Local) with which to deliver exceptionally well-targeted geographical results. At the very least, search engine optimisation will have to become ever more local and granular in approach.
Smaller property portals could struggle
Mobile search changes the economics of brand building for overseas property portals. Imagine an iPhone-esque Rightmove or Properazzi mobile site aggressively advertised at airports. If they have the content and it’s relevant to your geographical position, it’s a compelling proposition. There are still significant technical issues to overcome and consumer traction is some time away but mobile internet is likely to push traffic into the hands of the biggest and best-funded property portals.
Be mobile ready
The commercial pinch of these changes is some time off. The bulk of overseas property research will be done on PCs for some time to come and your current website will work on mobile, especially with a 3G or WiFi connection. However, mobile internet offers compelling opportunities (extreme geographical relevance, click to call, video etc) and websites designed for mobile work better than those that are not. Be sure to ask your agency about the opportunities the next time you upgrade your site.
*Google’s turnover is over $16 billion and the vast majority of this comes from Google Adwords.